Things change, People change.

Dear Jordan,
       We were best friends for awhile, from kindergarten until the beginning of high school. We did everything together. We acted the same and loved matching clothes and pretending we were twins. So, what happened? I can tell you exactly what happened. You changed. Remember when I was the first person you called to hang out with? Remember when we both had other friends that we talked to, but still only called one person our best friend? Remember when we called each other sisters? Remember when we helped each other out or did each others homework? Remember when we told each other everything and didn't tell anyone else? Remember when you didn't lie to me? I sure remember all of those things. But, clearly you don't. You stopped calling me to hangout. You had 7 best friends, while I still only had one. You stopped telling me everything. You began spreading my secrets. You were the one who lied. You were the one who pushed me away, while I tried to stay friends with you. So, how is it my fault that our friendship was lost? Did I give up too easily? No. I forgave you when your new friends ditched you. I helped you feel better. But, you pushed me away for a second time. Why would I want to be best friends with someone who doesn't seem like they want to be friends with me?
       So, look at our friendship now. We pass by each other in the halls and there isn't even a smile, a "hello," or wave that is exchanged between us. All that is felt is the tension from our fights and the unnecessary hatred. We both know we were not supposed to be life long friends and i think it is finally time to have a close to our friendship. Thank you for all of the memories and realizing what a true friend should be like (definitely not someone who acts like you). Goodbye.

   Without respect,
              Ashley

Revenge

What is the first thing that pops into your head when you think of revenge? Well, the first thing that I think of is backstabbing and manipulating. I think of payback and sneaking around. I also think of one of my favorite shows, Pretty Little Liars. Pretty Little Liars is based on a book series by Sara Shepard.

http://cdn103.iofferphoto.com/img/item/189/316/910/pretty-little-liars-ebook-series-sara-shepard-71ac2.jpg

If you are crazy enough not to have ever heard of this series or show, the story line is based around the murder of a teenaged girl named Alison DiLaurentis. Alison, before she was murdered, held many secrets. She was a bully as well. She made fun of and often manipulated people to get exactly what she wanted. She pretty much gave people reasons to hate her and maybe, get revenge on her. The first example of revenge was her actual murder. Someone, still unclear to the people who watch the show, wanted to get back at Alison and used an act of violence against her. Whoever wanted to get back at Alison for the way she acted also wanted to torture Alison's friends, Aria, Spencer, Emily, and Hanna. The "person" is actually a small group of anonymous people who call themselves "A." This "A" team works together to threaten the girls and put them in danger. "A," for example, will send anonymous text messages to the girls and tell the girls that if they didn't do something "A" told them to, then secrets will be revealed or something bad will happen to them. Also, there are many love twists and crosses.

As you can see Pretty Little Liars contains many of the characteristics that revenge stories contain. There is a group of people trying to revenge the actions of others, there are many twists to the story making it complex, there are plenty of murders, lust between many characters, and physical violence and threats. Lastly, there is also a ghost. In some scenes, Alison's ghost appears to the girls, though they are never sure if it is real or not. Here is one link from one of the earlier episodes from Pretty Little Liars http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc_0Qf60cMw. It shows Alison talking to Hanna, in which viewers are led to believe it could be Alison's ghost. Alison tells Hanna some things that hint around Alison's death and Alison also gives Hanna some warning to be careful.

The scene above from Pretty Little Liars reminds me of a scene from the play we are reading in English, Hamlet. It reminds me of Hamlet, because towards the beginning of the play, when Hamlet talks to his father's ghost, the ghost reveals hints on how he was murdered.

Personally, I enjoy reading about revenge because it always keeps the reader thinking. It makes me think "what will happen next?" It keeps me wanting to read or watch more. Also, the story lines can be so creative and different because there are so many different things that writers can do with the genre of revenge.

Satire, satire, satire. It's used everywhere in our daily lives. And it's not only in the books that we read, it's in movies and other entertainment sources, too! I know its crazy right?! Satire, something we think we only need to know for school is on the television we watch, when we aren't in school!

Often times, satire is used in the form of parody, sarcasm, and is meant to be humorous. For example, Shrek (a movie that everyone knows) is a satire of fairytale stories. Usually, fairytales end in in happily ever after with a beautiful princess and prince. But, Shrek ends with two ogres (ugly, right?!). Also, present day satire is found in parody videos, which make fun of TV commercials/products or even TV shows. Here is one example of a YouTube video that makes fun of Jersey Shore's Snooki, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrfUXuBaJ1E.

Although we can find parodies and satire by simply going on YouTube, people hundreds of years ago couldn't do that. So, they used books as a way to make "parodies" or make fun of real events and people. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain is one novel which takes a real life story of the Hatfield and McCoy families and satirizes it.

In the mid to late 1800's, a family feud started between two families, the Hatfields and the McCoys. These two families lived around the same area in West Virginia. The Hatfields owned a prosperous lumber business. The McCoys were not as prosperous as the Hatfields, but they were not far behind. The first incident that could have started this feud was when one McCoy brother was murdered by a local militia. "Devil Anse" of the Hatfields and some of the other Hatfields were a part of this militia, so the Mccoys blamed them to be traitors, since Devil Anse served in the Army. Another fight began between the two families over the ownership of a pig. The pig was on the Hatfield's land, so they claimed that the pig was theirs. But, the McCoys thought the pig was their own, so a fight broke out. The biggest feud broke out at an election where some brothers from each family started to argue. The dispute ended in a couple of murders for both families. There was one big twist in the feud. A romance had struck up between Roseanna McCoy and Johnse Hatfield. Loyalty to the family was important, especially for these families. So, in order to avoid confrontation with her family, Roseanna ended up living with the Hatfields for a period of time. Sadly, Johnse was not that interested in Roseanna and left her. Eventually, the feud died out after the imprisonment of eight members in the Hatfield family.





Here is one cartoon representing the feud.

Like I mentioned before, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn satirizes the family feud between the Hatfield and the McCoy. In the novel the two families are the Grangerfords and the Shepardsons. While Huck is sailing downstream, he meets a boy from the Grangerford family. The Grangerford family has a big home and they own many slaves. Huck is very amazed by the family and their home. Huck soon finds out about a feud the Grangerfords have with a neighboring family, the Shepardsons. When Huck asks Buck Grangerford why there was a feud, Buck simply says that he is not even sure how the feud actually started. Also, one day at church Huck finds a note in a bible from a Shepardson boy to Sofia Grangerford. Huck realizes that the two teens are secretly dating. This is just like Roseanna McCoy and Johnse Hatfield.

I feel as though Mark Twain satirizes the McCoy and Hatfield feud because it shows how ridiculous the families were acting. They were both wealthier families who got into a fight for a pig, when they probably had twenty others. It shows that the feuding was pointless because no one really knew why the families were fighting in the first place.

If you would like to learn more about the Hatfield and McCoy feud, check out the link below.

http://www.history.com/shows/hatfields-and-mccoys